New partnership in Oldham

An partnership agreement between Oldham Council and the Oldham Care Homes Association in Greater Manchester has been made in response to government guidance calling on councils and care home providers to work together for the benefit of people living in care homes and their families. It is hoped that the partnership agreement, which follows four months of intensive negotiations, will provide the confidence for care home owners to invest in better facilities and to provide high levels of staff training. The partnership will also work towards making sure that there will be a range of specialist care homes in Oldham, and also ensure that there is sufficient care home capacity to prevent delayed hospital discharges. As part of the negotiations the council accepted that the cost of providing care was more than was currently being paid. The care home association, in turn, recognised the councilÂ¹s difficulty in immediately increasing fees to an acceptable level. As a result, both jointly agreed a structure and cont